


Gotham's back to school

by moonfox281



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, I suck at tagging, M/M, so let's just get on to the summary
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2018-08-13 18:24:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7981573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonfox281/pseuds/moonfox281
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A school where the nerds were hot, the jocks were smart, the cheerleaders didn't act like they were all in the middle of Means Girl movie, and you got to have a billionaire's son studying with you.<br/>Tim was the cool nerd; Stephanie was the goody friendly cheerleader; Barbara was the Student Council's President and basically the perfect picture of feamle-leader on 2016; Jason was the guy who nailed every sport at school and acted around like a totally asshole, a perfect image of bad boy that girls could stop bbut throwing themdelves at; and Dick was the rich kid but somehow ended up being the charming, friendly, dorky and perfect balance of geek and athlete, and just made you reconsidered that maybe all those frame-on perfect guys in romantic novels weren't so unrealistic at all.<br/>And why on Earth did hot guys always have to love each other?!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Megan's POV

**Author's Note:**

> So, it's back to school season, so I've made this one, hope you'll enjoy it. :)

 

 

 

Her first day at school, she had already left her pencil case at home. New town, new school, new flat, a fresh new start, and this was how she started her first day.

_Great job Megan, great job!_

Walking away from the car park, Megan dug inside her bag again to make sure that the pencil case was the only thing was left behind.

She had to get to the office for information paperwork and because obviously she needed to know her classes.

 

Gotham High was a normal looking school for her, with typical teachers, typical kind of paper signing and typical… everything. Walking on the hallway, the teacher led her to her new class.

They had already started, the teacher made a quick intro about her attendance and then pointed her to the seat next to the window.

Great, her favorite seat!

Perfect for any boring lecture, and it was quite close to the corner, so lesser teacher’s attention, with great outdoor view as a bonus.

 

“Hey” A blonde next to Megan smiled at her. “Welcome to Gotham High.”

She was wearing the school’s black and gold cheerleader uniform, a huge “Gotham Knight” writing in her chest.

 

“Thank you.” Megan smiled back.

“I’m Stephanie, but you can call me Steph.”

“I’m Megan.”

Megan glanced up and down at the girl. Nice legs, white skin, blonde shoulder-length hair, and a cute smile. Yep. Stephanie was a very pretty girl, typical for a cheerleader.

 

“I hope you’ll like it here. The cafeteria has great chicken nugget!”

 

Oh, Megan decided that she liked this girl. Anyone with a good eating spirit would always be welcomed with open arms.

 

“Wednesday usually have terrible food though.” Steph grinned playfully and leaned over, she was about to say something when Megan pulled out her notebook and textbook then set her backpack down.  “Oh, you don’t have a pen?”

 

Megan nodded awkwardly. “Yeah, I left it all at home.”

She looked around the class to see that no one was paying attention, some guys in the back was even sleeping, and the one holding a football was clearly flirting with the girl next to him. Stephanie was the only one gave the newbie some attention.

 

“Here, use one of mine.” Steph pulled out a pen from her bag and give it to Megan, extra a sunny bright smile.

“Thanks.”

“Nah, it’s ok. I was nervous too at my first day. But if you feel like it, you can pay me back by joining us at lunch. I’ll show you the way.”  Stephanie grinned like a child at the candy store, she curled a piece of her slightly wavy hair with her finger, leaning her elbows on the table.

“Sure, it’s never fun seating alone anyway.” Making friend with a cheerleader was a great way to start school anyway.

 

 

 

 

 

Lunch time came sooner than Megan expected, she definitely didn’t hope to get along with anyone right at her first day, but Stephanie was nice, she showed Megan around and leaded her to her group.

The member of the cheerleader team weren’t all nice as Steph, but they were fine, none of them seemed to have the sassy bitchy personality like Megan had expected.

And Steph was right, they did have amazing chicken nugget.

 

 

“So, Megan. Where are you from?”  Zoe, if Megan remembered correctly, leaned down from where she was seating on the table.

“Around, just moved to Gotham 2 months ago.” Megan poked at her stray and tried to look away from Zoe’s honey thighs.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but Gotham’s kinda suck, you know, if you’re living at it normal side.” Zoe rolled her eyes and popped her bubble gum’s bubble. “Nasty food, polluted air, terrible weather, I mean, you can’t even wear foundation for more like, 2 hours before it starts to melt.”

 

Haha, great. Megan had never wore makeup before.

 

“But I like the food at our school.” Steph pouted and turned to grin at Megan.

“Cause you like the food at everywhere, honey girl.” Zoe nicked a piece of chicken nugget from her long forgotten tray next to her and bit the tiny bit of it.

“You need to talk more, Megan. Let me give you a quick look around.”

 

Okay… Megan chewed her food slowly while watching Zoe.

 

“See over there.” Zoe point here nugget over the table at the corner, where there were a bunch of guys with a lot of techs like laptops, Ipads, smartphones and headphones lying on the table.

“That’s the nerd group. Forget what you saw in the movie, Megan, nowadays they rule the world. See that guy in the white T-shirt with a black Beat headphones on his neck, that’s Timothy Drake. He won us 3 different science prizes last year.”

 

Well, Tim looked hot, for a nerd. He even got muscle, and he definitely knew fashion, not like all the nerdy creepy style with bow and suspenders she used to see in the movie. Tim had the geeky but still sporty and casual look on him like he could tell you about the history of the Pi number while beating you at wrestling game.

 

“I know what ya thinking, Megan. The world has turned all upside down these days, nerds look good and jorks are smart. Last week a guy from the wrestling team won the city’s rhetoric contest.” Zoe popped the rest of the nugget in her mouth and pointed her well-painted long finger nail in the other direction, at the centre of the room. “Speaking about it, over there, we have the jorks.”

 

 

Well, jorks looked like… jorks.

 

The basketball team was so unavoidable to look away. They are typical kind of athletic students in school. More than 6 foot tall, build like a tank, and acting like they were some kind of wild wolf pack.

They didn’t need to do much to show everyone they owned the place. Just casually seating around, loudly talking and throwing balls at each other, and you would have to know they were on top of the food chain of this school.

 

“Boy, look at that beefcake.”  Zoe licked her lips while shamelessly, openly, staring at the boys.

“Urgh, you’re drooling, Zoe.” Steph complained with a mouthful of beans while checking her phone.

“Forgive me for appreciating the beauty of creation of mother nature. Not everyone in here like the same geeky type of you, Steph.” Zoe scrolled and winked at Stephanie, then she turned to Megan.

“I don’t know about you, but I dip that hunk over there.” The cheerleader titled her head at the bulky basketball player seating at the centre of the team’s table. He was wearing the school’s team uniform with blue jeans and a digital sport black bracelet on his left hand.

Looking at those arms, Megan could totally understand why Zoe had that fire in her eyes.

 

“Pfft, Jason doesn’t even notice you!”

“Shut up, Cortney, he will, soon.” Zoe snarled at her friend and turned to wave at the basketball team with a big smile on her face.. “Hey Jay!”

 

The boy didn’t notice at first, was busy laughing about something with his crew, it was one of his friends that saw Zoe’s hand waving at them like the American flag in the Independence Day, so he poked at the talked-about Jason and the ball player turned around.

He didn’t wave back, only tilted his chin, arched his brows and gave them a cocky smirk.

 

Man, didn’t he look like trouble covered in gravy.

 

Megan swore she could hear Zoe’s heart fly out of her chest.

 

 

“Lunch time’s almost over. How about I give you another tour around, Meg? Cause, that would be way more interesting than watching Zoe here daydreaming again.” Cortney emphasized the last sentence and stood up, throwing her backpack behind her shoulder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her locker turned out to be right next to Steph’s, odder, they even shared the same History and Math class.

It was great though, Megan really liked Steph, she was funny, pretty and nice, so it wasn’t strange to see that a lot of guys in this school seemed to know her.

Cortney was just as popular.

Looked like even how much time had made things change, beauty always had its place in this world, and the cheerleaders were always belong to the popular group.

 

 

“Okay, so if you wanna join any club, just go over the board right there to check the news, they have fliers every week, information is all in it. If you want to know about your classes or need some special tutors, just go ask Barbara Gordon. She’s a senior year, she knows everything in this school.”

Cortney said while digging around her bag to find her lipstick.

“Okay… who’s Barbara?”

“You know the over-achiever who does everything and thus makes you feel really bad about yourself? That’s her!”

“Oh shut up, Cortney, she’s the President of the Student Council. Just ask around, everybody knows her.” Steph closed her mirror after finishing coloring her lips. She turned around to open her locker just in time to see something.

 

“Oh boy, not again.” Steph rolled her eyes and bite the inner of her lower lip while slamming the locker door hard.

 

Megan turned back in curious to see from another block, Zoe was leaning into the lockers, holding her books tight into her chest and seeming very happy while chatting with one of the basketball player…. that Jason guy they kept talking about.   

 

 

“Urgh, she never gives up, does she?” Steph crossed her hands while leaning at her locker, watching the show.

“What is it between them?” Seriously, Megan didn’t want to know, but he acted like she was curious about it, cause she want to get a full picture of the school as quick as possible, and nothing could be more perfect for that than gossips between cheerleaders.

“These two?! Ugh, nothing!” Cortney shrugged and put her mirror away. “Jason slept with her, once. She just can’t let it go and keeps clinging to him.”

“I think she really likes him, not just because the ‘captain of the basketball team’ thing, you know.” Steph cocked her head and turned to look at the couple again.

“You think so? I don’t know girl, but Zoe isn’t the only one in this school head over heels for him.”

“So… he dumped her?” Megan asked, this time she was actually curious. “But… Zoe is hot.”

“Pfft, you haven’t seen Barbara!” Steph snorted. “She’s like, Miss Universe of this place!”

“No, she’s not.” Cortney elbowed Steph and grinned evilly. “Only Stephie here thinks so cause she had the biggest crush on her.”

“ _Had_!” Steph pouted and pushed her shoulder at Cortney’s.

“Yeah yeah, girl. You replace a hot girl with a nerd.” Cortney stuck her tongue out then turned to grin at Megan. “Anyway, it’s Jason we’re talking about, Megan. You’re new so I’m telling you this, Jason didn’t dump Zoe, he didn’t even date her!”

 

Well now things got a lot more interesting.

 

“Wait… what?”

“He slept with her cause she was the one who started it, and… yeah, cause Zoe’s hot. But Jason Todd doesn’t date.”

 

So sex was fine but dating was not?! Oh god, there they said girls were hard to understand.

 

“Seriously, sometimes I wonder he even has feelings under all those muscles.”

“That’s harsh, Cortney.”

“I mean it, really. All he does is staring at people coldly and putting on his cocky hot ass face, and hell must has a special place for me cause I think it makes him even hotter, but still… he’s a bad boy, and bad boy is _bad_ , Steph.”

“No, he’s not… Yeah, he totally rules all the kind of sports and sort of acts like a jerk, but he’s actually really cute and totally clueless sometimes.”

“Whatever you say girl, whatever you say.” Cortney shrugged and right after that, her eyes widen with excitement. “Oh Megan, there’s Barbara, the red head one.”

 

It was easy to recognize Barbara through the crowd cause the color of her hair. She had the kind of boho chic style which Megan found really fashionable, tall and nice long legs, rosy slightly tanned skin, long wavy orange-red hair with a side Dutch braid.

Steph was right, Barbara looked like some beauty bloggers on Youtube that looked amazing even without makeup but also very handy and could do all the DIY stuffs or beauty hacks.

She was the kind of girl every boy wanted to take home and introduce to their parents.

 

 

Barbara was beautiful, but the one walking next to her was breathtaking!

 

 

“You girls come to class early today. What so special?” Barbara smiled while walking toward them, the glitter on her white dress sparkling a little under the light of every small movement.

“Believe me, you don’t wanna know.” Cortney curled a piece of her hair and rolled her eyes, the action made Megan realized the alarming amount of mascara her new friend was wearing.

“I can see you’re getting along quite well, Megan.”

 

Megan was quite ~~a lot~~ distracted by the one standing next to Barbara so she missed the question at the first few second. It was a moment of embarrassing and screaming quietly inside her head when they all started staring at her.

“Oh… ah, yeah. I guess… Wait, you know my name?”

 

_Great job, Megan!_

Somehow she really wanted the school suddenly burst on fire so they could get all panicking and forget that she had been staring like a weirdo.

 

“Pfft, Babs knows everything, Megan.” Steph snorted and turned to smile widely with the super hot one standing next to Barbara, which earned her a thousand watt smile back. “What are you doing in here, Dick? I thought you have to go to a Gala or something on Metropolis.”

 

Oh, so his name was Dick?

Okay, that was weird. But Megan knew Dick was a slang for Richard, so that was probably his name.

 

“Yeah, I dogged it. It’s raining there so they delayed the meeting till next week.” Hot guy shrugged, and oh boy, his ridiculous incredibly blue eyes flashed quickly when he laughed.

 

_Calm down, Megan! Calm the heck down!_

 

“So, you’re new?”

 

_Ok, panicking! Definitely panicking now! Say something smart, something cool, or maybe funny that would blow his mind and make him laugh!_

 

“Y−ye−yeah!”

 

_Well that went well!_

 

“S’ okay. I’m quite new in here too actually, so I can relate. Things maybe a little bit weird sometimes, a lot to catch up, but you’ll get used to it, I trust Steph here will make sure of that in no time.”

 

 

Honestly, Megan hardly caught his word. She was too busy staring at those deep glowing blue eyes, that too black hair that fell aside of his cheek and looked ridiculously silky and soft and it just made her fingers itch to touch it. She never like tanned skin but damn, that rosy golden tan color of his flawless skin made Megan’s heart drumming like it was belonged to a metal concert.

And was it her or the space around him was practically sparkling?

 

She could only nod. Too caught up by staring at him, but also didn’t really want anyone to find that out.

 

“Okay, I’m heading to class, Ms Lance needs me with her new project. You girls ge−”

“YO Grayson!”

 

They all jumped in shock.

The basketball guy, Jason, suddenly came out of nowhere and slammed his fist on the locker, cutting Dick away from the rest of them with his massive arm and shoved his back toward them.

Megan couldn’t see his face but she could see Dick’s, and he looked not amused.

 

“What do you want, Jason?” His tone showed that he wasn’t up for a conversation. He didn’t look angry, but he had dropped his one thousand watt charming smile.

“Oh come one, don’t be a dick.” Jason giggled. He cocked his head aside and leaned his shoulder on the locker, giving Megan a perfect view of his broad back.

Seriously, this guy was like… 90% muscle! Megan could barely saw anything from behind him, and from her view, clearly Dick was the shorter one.

 

Dick didn’t respond, he simply crossed his arms and arched his eyebrows. Megan heard Jason breath out a laugh.

“What? I’m not insulting you, not with your name like that.” There was a hint of amusement in his voice and for whatever reaction that Jason tried to get on Dick, the other was clearly not giving it.

“Come on, aren’t ya happy to see me?! You seem all thrilled when you swing around in the air with your tight ass pants. You’re gonna say you enjoy wearing skin tight stuffs more than having a dude to dude conversation? Cause that sound really gay, man.”   

 

Okay, to Steph’s description about Jason earlier, the “totally clueless and cute” part, not found … yet. Okay, he was hot, but not cute. But the “act like a jerk” part?! Noted!

He sure sounded like a douche.

 

“My outfits help training and movement easier. Besides, it won’t be an insult if you tell me I’m gay, cause the whole school know I roll with both side. For what I’ve heard, you’re the one that never actually date anyone.”

 

The muscle on the back of Jason’s neck tightened, and oh, if they’re gonna fight, Megan afraid Dick wouldn’t stand a chance. He had a lot of muscle, but his body was slim and seemed to be a lot lighter and smaller compared to Jason’s bear size.

 

“I’ve slept with dozen of them.” Jason grunted and tightened his fist on the locker.

“That just makes you a douche, Jay.” Dick sighed and his face looked like he was tired of this conversation.

 

Oh boy, this wasn’t going well. Normally, when you told a guy with an attitude like Jason a douche, you got a punch, or got slammed to the locker.

That was why it completely shocked Megan when Jason leaned down and only stopped when his face was merely an inch away from Dick’s. She couldn’t see his face but somehow she got the feeling that he was totally grinning.

 

“Be careful with your mouth, Dickie. Or I’m gonna do bad things to it.”

 

 

….

Sorry, but whaaaa???!!!!

 

That sounded…

Okay, was it just her, or somehow that threat did not sound as scary as the level it should have been at all! And Megan was trying really hard to not blush for what she had had in mind right the first second she heard that line.

 

“Boys, please.” Barbara rested a hand on Jason’s broad shoulder and locked her eyes with Dick’s. “We better go to class, Ms. Lance needs your help with the new project anyway.” She then turned toward Jason and spoke with a less soothing tone. “And you have things to deal with, right Jason? Training, perhaps?!”

 

Jason took a moment then straightened up, he casually pushed his fist at the locker and moved out of Megan’s view. He turned his head to look at Dick one last time and smirked, lips curled into an undeniable attractive but also alarmingly arrogant line.

“See ya later, Birdie.”

 

Just like that, he left, tugging both hands in his jean’s pockets and quickly disappeared down the hallway.  

 

“Urgh, we really should be going. I’ll see you guys later, okay?” Barbara grope Dick’s wrist and dragged him away before any of them could manage to respond. Dick just laughed awkwardly and waved his hand for a more proper goodbye while tumbling on his steps.

 

Before the two could even disappear on the crowd, Megan found herself turning toward Steph and Cortney and spoke with an embarrassing lightning speed.

“Who the hell was THAT!???”

 

Cortney and Stephanie looked at each other and grinned like the little devils just saw a sinner. They knew definitely who she was talking about.

“I knew she would be like this!” Steph laughed out loud and hugged her chest.

“That why we’ve saved him for the last.”

 

Ok, they two made completely nonsense, but clearly, Megan’s embarrassing reaction had been predicted, and that fact made she wanted to dig a hole right through the floor and hide in there forever.

Stephanie had finally stopped laughing and was lightly shaking her head, eyes on Megan with full amusement.

“That, Megan, was Dick Grayson, exchanged student from Gotham Academy, you know, or probably not, the school for all the rich and important kids, he just came here sooner than you only one semester.”

 

Oh, no wonder there was some kind of strange air around him that immediately made people realized he was different with the rest of them, noble-like sort of way.

Megan knew about Gotham Academy, had crossed by its road on her first day moved in. It was a popular school in America, stayed straight under the line to Gotham University, with really high standard of facility and teaching methods. Only the really rich ones could afford to study in it, and you didn’t only need to be rich, you had to smart too, like, really really smart. The school picked its student not through only their family status, but also through the kids’ personal papers and information. Its high standard made sure that every student who graduated would be big and success in whatever career they chose. So far a really high amount of politicians, inventors and professors had been producing by its system.

That formed a huge question mark inside of Megan’s head: What the hell was Dick doing in here? Why on Earth a person who had been accepted by Gotham Academy, one of America’s educational proud, could even consider, not to mention actually left that school to come to this place? Cause there was way a place like G.A could really have an exchanging program with a medium standard local school like Gotham High.

 

“What do think ‘bout him, Meg?” Cortney cocked her head and grinned playfully. She seemed doing her best to enjoy Megan’s expression.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys, but he looks damn hell like a 17-version of Matt Bomer to me.” Megan was fully honest, there was no shame on being downright falling for a guy like that.

“Well, then let me tell you something better.” Cortney smirked like she had been waiting for Megan to say exactly what she had said. “He’s not just damn hot, he’s basically good at everything too. He’s only been here for a while, but so far has brought to our school two champion cups of Gymnastics, which is so much better than our cheerleader team can ever manage in 5 years, he’s also Miss Lance’s part time TA on her Biology class, and he’s co-captain of Science team next to Tim Drake.”

 

Wow, so he was not just hot, but also super smart too?!  Could a guy like that truly excite?!

 

“And you know what, like being perfect wasn’t good enough, he has to be damn rich too, like, stupidly rich. Remember what Zoe said about living in Gotham’s normal side?! Well, he lives in its luxury side.” Cortney rolled her eyes and groan in an openly jealousy tone, but not in a bad way.

Steph just chuckled at her friend’s comment and leaned her head aside while explaining for Megan.

“Dick is Bruce Wayne’s son.”

 

 

_Holly shit!_

Bruce Wayne?!!! Bruce Wayne the billionaire?!!!!

Damn, she had been face to face with Bruce Wayne’son?!!!!

Oh my God, if that was true, then he was not just rich, they were talking about deadly money overrides here, Bill Gate’s kind of rich!

 

Seriously, what the hell was Dick even doing in here?!!! Shouldn’t he be traveling around, eating high-end foods and sleeping in a pile of money, or homeschooling with private teachers or a going to places that suited with his high rank like Gotham Academy, instead of too normal school like this, surrounded by hundreds of too normal people?!

 

 “Shut your mouth off, Megan, or you’re gonna get a fly in it.” Cortney breathed out a laugh and rest a hand on Megan’s shoulder, squeezing it lightly. “Well, that was enough for today, wasn’t it? Let’s go to class, you can continue whatever you’re thinking later, and I know what you’re thinking girl.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come [here](http://moonfox281.tumblr.com/) if you want to chat or need something else, I take prompt too so feel free to ask ;)


	2. Jason

“Come on, show me what you got ladies!”

 

Coach was yelling but the only sound in his mind was the beat of the ball on the wooden floor. He jumped and caught the ball from Roy but damn, they were all on him so let just screw it, he threw.

His heart stopped and in a moment it was like time had paused and it only got back to normal when the ball slipped through the basket with one smooth sound.

A 3-points!

 

 

“Holy shitttt!!!” Roy roar out and suddenly all his team jumped on him.

“Fuck Todd! That was amazing!”

“3 points? 3 my ass I give that 5 points!”

“How the fuck did you do that dude!”

 

At this point he could tell which came from whom, but who cared, he felt like he just won the Winter Cup, which they did, last year.

 

“Good job, boys. Now head to the shower, you all smell like my grandmother, and she’s been underground for 26 years.” Coach blew his whistle and said out loud, a big smile painting on his face. “Todd, stay with me a minute.”

 

Jason was on his way to the shower room with his team when the couch motioning him to stay. He didn’t get into trouble lately so there was no reason to worry.

“What’s up, coach?”

“You did good today, I’m hoping you can keep the fire like this until the next season.”

“Sure.”

“3 months, Jason. Lots of big guys around the states will show up. I know it’s early and you still got one more year, but better be late than sorry, right?” Coach patted his shoulder and yeah, he felt the pressure but also the warm in it.

“I know.” He nodded and tried not to take it too seriously. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s my boy, now go.”

 

 

Jason played sports because it helped him get off sometimes. He had had to take care of himself since 13, so yes, life was a bundle of shit for him sometimes and when he felt like punching and destroying everything, sport was what he needed to burn down all of that extra energy and let go of his anger.

He’d never taken it that seriously, but he liked sport, liked the way adrenaline burned every core of his body, liked the fast pace and heart-stopping moment in every match.

 

Lunch time came up and he moved toward the team’s usual seat. His teammates always saved a spot for him, in the center of the table, even when he was absent. They were chatting about something and urgh, someone laughed too hard they spilled saliva at him. It was boring and all they said about was who was the hottest girl in this school, the games they played, the extra workout coach had given them all, and who got more food on the tray than the others. It was like babysitting a wild animal’s pack, seriously, this whole team was gonna pretty much started a food fight if he approved.

He played with his phone and ignored the calls from some chicks passing by, few times in a while he would have to look up and watch out if one of his teammates decided to flip the whole food tray at somebody’s face.

 

It took him a while longer than he liked to realize Roy was absent. Instinctively, he scanned around the canteen and spot that a particular person was also absent too.

 

 

“Yo Jason, where are you going?” Kyle yelled when he saw Jason got up from his seat, heading toward the door.

“ I’ve got something to do. Don’t kill each other while I’m gone!”

“You better hurry up man, if I die cause of boredom in Mr. Clark class, I’m gonna kill you.”

“Yeah yeah yeah.” Jason waved off and turned his heel down the hallway. A few girls greeted him but damn, he didn’t even know their names, or he did but his mind just didn’t care enough to remember.

 

His legs automatically walked its way to the gym room, the new one, not a lot of people were there, just a few from the cheerleader team, some other students and the reason he was here.

 

Dick was on the air doing… what was it, yoga thing with the silk robe? The whole room was packed with special equipment, on the ceiling were some kind of trapezes and silk robes, the floor was carpeted and there were spaces for gymnastic training with clipart. The room was probably as twice as big then the school’s basketball stadium, and it was built from only last semester with an alarming speed and finished right before the Wayne’s heir started his studying in here.

They said it was a Wayne Foundation and Gotham Academy’s gift to the school, but none of a student in this school bought that bull shit, cause, come one, since their precious Golden Boy transferred to here, he was the only one who used the full potential of this room, the teachers didn’t even get here cause apparently, they didn’t match his skill. 

 

 

“What are you doing in here?”

 

Jason almost, _almost_ , jumped. When he turned around, it was Roy.

“Shit, man! Don’t do that.”

 

Roy grinned, he got that smug ass attitude on his face.

“Well, then you better give a reason why you snicker in the doorway of this gym? Only the pretty ones use this place, remember? Our place’s in the other way.”

“I…” Ok, what was he doing in here? “Why do you care? And what the hell are you doing in here too?”

“Dick called, said he needs someone to get his backpack for him, he has to go to the Gala on Metropolis.” Roy pulled up the blue backpack on his hand that was clearly Dick’s.

 

Yeah, right, Dick’s was one in the really small number of Roy’s friends, not to mention one of the closest.

 

“Ok, you got mine, now answer the damn question. What the heck are you doing in here?”

“Um… watching… um… girls?”

Roy frowned.

“Since when you’re interested in girls?”

“Hey, I’m a man. I’m always interested in girls.”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. You’re weird today but I’m gonna let that pass cause that freaking awesome 3-points.” Roy patted his shoulder and walked into the room.

Thank god cause Jason was really not in the mood of explaining why he was here.

 

“Yo Rob!” Roy walked in the middle of the room like he owned it, the bastard even winked with the skirts while calling out for Dick.

And Dick, shit, his legs were spreading in what should be a really painful pose even for watching. He slipped down with one hand on the robe and flopped on the mattress.

The guy was like damn liquid.

 

“Thanks, man. You coming too?”

“Yeah, Ollie made me. Need a ride?”

 

 

Jason shouldn’t be here. He was standing in the doorway watching them like some pathetic creep.  He should leave.

 

“Jason, you’ve really come!”

 

_Fuck my life!_

 

“Hey.” That girl was approaching him, Zan? Zea?... Fuck, what the fuck was her name again?!

“Come on, we do the pyramid today, I’m on the top, so you won’t want to miss it.”

“Yeah.” He answered, but his eyes were darting away.

 

 

“…and Bruce was like, ‘I need you there with me so I won’t feel too lost and fake’. See, how on Earth was I supposed to react to _that_!”

“You’re such a softy. Ollie has to buy me a new car for me to go there with him. You should have asked him for a pool house.”

“What would I do with it anyway.”

“You have no fun, Dick. So, when will we go?”

“Let me finish this first…”

 

“JAYSON!”

 

This time, he startled for real.

“Shit! What?”

“You look carried away.”

“No. I’m not.”

“Oh… okay.”

 

He grunted then climbed to the nearest seat. The girls started into formation and that chic kept smiling with him like she was way high on some drug.

Behind them, Jason could see Dick was stretching, bending all of his limbs like a freaking cat. He was standing with both of his hands flat on the carpet now, his back drew a perfect curve and the tips of his toes practically touched his temple.

Every movement he made look relaxed and elegant, like standing and walking by hands was easier than by feet. From this distance, he couldn’t see clearly, but he could spot the way that tight shirt clung to Dick upper body like it was his second skin, and that ass!

When he glanced, he saw Roy sitting right next to Dick on the second roll of the seats, his face looked at ease but his ears all turned red, and his knuckles were all white while he fisted his hands tight on his laps.

 

Jason didn’t blame him. That was one hell of a sight in front of him, and Roy’s feeling toward Dick’s wasn’t something he hid privately.

But it was strange, cause he shouldn’t felt the kind of itch in his stomach while which them like this.

 

It was only when Dick laughed about something and turned his head toward this way, he noticed Jason. As if the world shook, he lost his balance and slammed down the floor with a painful yelp.

Jason found himself shoot up from his seat so fast but just stood there dumb face while watching Roy jumped off the stand and quickly knelt down next to Dick.

 

“Shit! Are you ok? Jesus, let me see that.” Roy was being that worrying kind of friend that panicked and wide mouthed when things happened. He practically hosted Dick up to sit still on the carpet while checking on him.

Dick just shook his head and was probably saying something to calm Roy down but Jason couldn’t hear it cause the girls started to cheer.

Hell, he couldn’t even hear the girls cause his heart was drumming like he had done a city round marathon.

 

 

“Crap, you’ve got a bruise over here.” Roy tilted Dick chin up with his hand and yep, a small bruise started to bloom its way in there.

“It’s okay, I get that all the times.”

“Don’t scare me like that, ok?! Bruce’s gonna burn the whole school down if you go home with so much as a scratch.”

“ Ha, no, he won’t.”

“Yeah, he will. What happened?”

“Um, him… what are you doing here?”

 

They both turned toward him, and fuck, since when Jason had walked to the stand next to them?

 

“Dunno, gazing skirts, he said.” Roy shrugged and ran his hand to the line of Dick’s arm.

“Sounds like you.” Dick smiled at him, but it wasn’t the kind of smile that he gave to everyone when they waved at him.

There was something in his eyes that made Jason angry, like that was all Dick ever thought of him, like all of his images in Dick’s eyes was just some douche flirting and sleeping with every chic in this school and didn’t give a fuck about anything else.

That was not right.

He did care.

He gave a lot of fuck for sports, for his life, his friends, for the kids in his neighborhood, and he gave plenty of fuck for a guy that was way out of his league and never really knew how he felt about him.

Oblivious idiot!

 

 

“JASON!!!”

 

_Jesus fuck! That fucking chic again!_

 

“What are you doing in there… Oh my god! Dick, are you ok?”

“I’m fine, Zoe.”

_Oh so her name was Zoe._

“You sure? Anyway, Jason, how did I do?”

_Do what now?_

“Um… you did well.”

_The fuck did she do again?_

“You see, the pyramid is the hardest part, but we totally nailed it. It might be tricky, especially when you stand on top of it, needs a lot of experience and balance and you just have to focus a lot more than others, but I’m good at it so it wasn’t that hard…”

 

 That chic kept rambling and half of those words didn’t even get to Jason’s ears, he was busy watching Roy and Dick whispering and laughing about something that he couldn’t hear. He watched the way Dick slightly tilted his head when he listened to someone talking, the way he shrugged his shoulder when he laughed freely and the way his eyes sparkled like water of the deep sea under the sun.

It was only till Roy and Dick left the room and disappeared behind the door that time floated again. That chic was still talking and Jason was still staring toward the doorway.

Suddenly, he felt a rush of anger blooming in the pit of his stomach.

 

 

“Do you ever shut up!”

 

 

He ignored the way that girl’s expression shattered into pieces while grabbing his backpack and left without a word.

On his way down the hall, he looked out the window to the car park and spotted Roy opened the door of his new shiny red Telsa S for Dick like a gentleman and threw both of their backpacks on the back seat.

Jason didn’t hear the faint sound of Roy’s car powerful engine roared out from where he stood, nor did he hear the guys from the soccer team greeted him.

 

 

     

 

 

 ===========================================

 

 

 

 

 

“What with the bruise?”

 

Tim flopped down next to him, a laptop on his hand. Jason groaned and shifted on his seat, trying to get some more personal space.

“Why don’t you go tailing your idol instead?!”

“You out of all people should know he won’t be back from Metropolis ‘till Monday.” The kid snorted, eyes darted between Jason’s jacket and his laptop’s screen. “Your best bud’s with him, right?!”

 

_Roy_

 

“Yeah.”

 

He really didn’t want to think about the fact that Roy and Dick right now could possibly be drinking sweet champagne, wearing fancy ass clothes, talking to noble rich ass people, people with high status just like them, or maybe Roy could be dragging Dick out of the boring party, convincing him to do some stupid stuffs with him, or maybe his best friend could take this as an opportunity to spend some private time with the Gotham’s precious Golden Boy.

Whatever the scenery was, Jason didn’t want to think about it. 

 

“So, again, what with the bruise?”

 

Now Jason felt annoyed. Tim was a good kid, with a head like it contained a fucking computer, but his mouth couldn't work the charm like Dick’s when it came to talking with him, maybe no one’s could.

“Trust me, you don’t wanna know.”   

  

He remembered it faintly, the dim light of the room, the bloody floor inside the ring, the sound of the bell announcing the champion of the night, a body lying face flat beside his feet, and the loud cheer from the crowd echoed every corner of his surrounding.

He remembered it very little, like waking up from a sleep-walking dream.

It must have been under 3 minutes, cause he remembered going home with a duffle bag full of gloves, roller bandages, dirty clothes, and a fat roll of 100 bucks. He only got that much for clock limited knock-out.

He didn’t remember shit, through the whole fight red fog had covered his eyes and all he could have thought of was that stupid warm smile that seemed to welcome everyone but him, that light in those inviting blue eyes when the sun hit his face, the sweet voice that always sounded too soft, too gentle, like a fucking mermaid pouring witch-craps to the space around his ears, and how mad he had felt when Dick disappeared behind the door of Roy’s car. When it was all over, the guy in front of him had turned into a bloody pulp, but the money could probably cover him for 3 months. His bruises were just like ant bites compared to what happened to that poor Russian guy.

 

  

“You know, for a guy like you, it’s quite entertaining seeing this.” Tim pulled out a lollipop in his pocket and popped it in his mouth, smirking like an idiot.

“Guy like me?” He frowned. What was the kid doing in here anyway, he’s one year under him.

“You know,” He shrugged, as if Jason actually knew what the hell he was talking about. “ All big, tough and bad, acting cool like you don’t care, probably because you actually don’t, but when it comes to him, wow, where all that emotions come from?!” Tim’s grin grew wider, and part of Jason appreciated the fact that the boy didn’t mention that name out loud.

 

He didn’t answer, just rolled his eyes, but he knew Tim took it just as much as an acceptance, plus, he didn’t deny either.

“You have to at least express something toward him other than the sandbag.”

Jason’s eyes snapped open at that line.

“How do you know?”

“Your knuckles.” Tim pointed his index finger to his hands. “They’re all calloused and reddened sometimes. Hobby?”

“Something like that.”

“Something like that?!”

“More or less.”

“What kind? Taekwondo?! Nah, you’d like something more violent. Muay Thai? Boxing? Freestyle?”

 

Seriously, Tim’s mouth just kept rambling and at any second Jason felt like that lollipop was just gonna fall off his mouth.

“MMA.”

“Wow!” This time, that lollipop actually fell off his mouth.

“Yeah, wow.” Jason caught it with his hand casually and popped it into his mouth, couldn’t stop but smirking sharply when Tim’s eyes widened while staring at him.

 

“Urgh! That’s disgusting Jason! I’m not one of those girls who would definitely die for that trick!”

“Yeah yeah.” He waved off but didn’t stop grinning at the very reddening Timothy.

“Seriously, I don’t even know why girls dig you.”

“Wanna see why?” He smirked at the boy and crept a hand under his shirt to start pulling it up.

“No!! Please tuck your shirt back and leave my eyes alone!”

“If you say so.”

 

He let go of his shirt and grinned at Tim, ruffling his hair. It was always nice playing with his crazy intelligent mind a little bit.

 

“He’s still single, you know.”

 

Jason laughed died on his lips as Tim spoke.

 

“I don’t know why it’s even possible. Dick has always been oblivious to these things, more than half of this school is in love with him and he doesn’t even get a clue.”

 

_Yes, that’s Dick, never know how beautiful he is, never know how much he can mess with a person’s mind with just a smile, and never know how much he’s loved…_

 

“You gotta step up your game, cause Dick need things spoken out loud and clear.”

 

_…  how much I love him._

 

 

 

“I don’t need your stupid advice!” He shoved off the chair angrily and stood up, grabbing his backpack and turning toward the door without a glance back.

 

 

“You keep saying it, but I’m the one that gets the one I love, and you don’t.” Tim yelled after him.

 

 

The words hurt, so he speeded up before his mind went unclear and punched Tim in the face.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 


	3. Dick

“Mr. Wayne, you can go home if you feel you have to.”

 

Dick shot right up from his table, eyes still dazed from the quick nap he had managed to get. The whole class was looking at him now, Dick felt lucky he didn’t droll all over the table.

“Umm… I’m fine, Mr. Danford.” He held back a yawn and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

 “Are you sure, son?” His teacher smiled softly, showing his sympathy. “You look like you need more than 5 minutes sleep.”

 

Normal teacher wouldn’t be that easy to any sleeping student in their class, but Dick was Mr. Danford’s top student, and of course, the check Bruce had written for this school affected a lot on the way everyone treated him. Dick was sure he could even eat his lunch at the teacher’s room if he wanted to.

 

Rubbing his face, Dick tried to ignore the staring from his classmates and focused on where had his teacher gone to with his lecturer. Unfortunately for him, his phone buzzed minutes later.

It was Bruce.

 

“Mr. Danford!” He put up his hand and showed the teacher his phone’s screen. “I’m sorry, but could I get a minute?”

The old man stared at the screen through his glasses and smiled, he slightly nodded at him.

“Go on, don’t make him wait.”

 

That said so much about how differently they treated him, Mr. Danford didn’t even allowed his students to leave phones on when in class.

 

Stepping out of the class and closing the door behind, Dick let out a sigh and took the call.

“Yeah Bruce?” He leaned on the wall and stared at lockers.

“I just want to check on you today. I held you up quite late last night.” Bruce’s voice came up with a sound of papers being removed and someone talking behind. He must be at the office.

“Yeah, I remember passing out on you in the limousine on the way back.”

“I know how much you don’t like galas. Thank you for being there for me.”

Though he couldn’t see it, Dick still knew Bruce was smiling.

“What would you do without me anyway?!” He teased. 

 

Last night wasn’t so bad if the gala didn’t last too long and people insisted them to stay till the last minute. Normally, they would sneak out with an excuse after making sure some particular people had seen their faces. But last night, a lot of Wayne’s Enterprises shareholder and potential partners had been invited, so Bruce and Dick stuck till the end. But look at the good side, a lot of fat contracts had been formed last night.

 

“How’s school?” Bruce let out a sigh and Dick could imagine him resting his head back to the back of the chair after the assistant had left.

“Like usual.” Dick shrugged though Bruce couldn’t see it. “Thanks to you, people look at me funny.”

“You are the one that insisted to have a “normal life” experience, like you’ve said.” Bruce’s voice sounded amused and oh no, Dick wouldn’t let him take this as joke again.

“Hey! I said one year wouldn’t harm anything. I could have got it good here if you didn’t sign that big fat check. 100,000 dollar, Bruce! What the hell were you thinking?”     

“Thought you wouldn’t find out.”

Oh he didn’t even try.

“Bruce, the whole school found out about a week after you handed it over to the principal.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shoved his hand down the pocket of his flannel shirts.

“No privacy in personal business in these types of place, I suppose.”

“One year, Bruce. You promised.”

“I know, and I quite regret it now.”

“Hah, told ya no one can win over my puppy eyes!”

“At least I tried.”

Dick could hear Bruce’s light chuckle sound on the other end, finding himself smile to that.

“Where do you want to go tonight after school?”

“What makes you find Alfred’s cooking less tempting than usual?”

“Why can’t you think that I simply want to take you and Damian out?”

 

“Bruce, did you piss Al off again?!” He grinned.

“I may have skipped breakfast this morning.”

“You’re dead man to him, Bruce.”

“I know.”

 

Dick snickered and heard Bruce laughed too. Want it or not, this phone call had made him feel a lot better. Bruce must had have quite of a stressful day too if he decided to call him just for chit chat like this.

“How are you holding up?” Dick said.

“Barely, my assistant just brought in a mountain of paperwork, and I’ve got a meeting on the next hour.” Bruce sighed, a heavy and tired sound that Dick had learned to understand the weight of it many years ago.

“Get a quick nap then,” Dick bit his lower lip when he thought about Bruce sitting in the middle of his office, tons of work on the table, heavy bags under his eyes. Last night had the bigger effect on Bruce, considered the amount of drink he had taken, and he didn’t even get his chance to rest before head to work soon this morning. “Even just for 15 minutes.”

“Dick…”

“Bruce, please. Do it for me.”  

 

And if that couldn’t do the trick, he seriously didn’t know what could. Bruce just sighed and he must be shaking his head right now (he could _feel_ it) but of course, he didn’t fight back.

“Alright.”

 

And he smiled, because a stubborn man Bruce was, he never pushed harder when Dick pleaded like this.

“I’ve got to go now, see you tonight?”

“See you tonight.” He paused, just long enough to have Dick wonder. “Love you, son.”

 

It was normal, yes, this was normal, hearing Bruce saying something like that. But still, Dick always felt like he had black out a moment after hear those words.

“Love you too, dad.”

 

He shoved the phone back to his pocket and rested his head on the wall, eyes staring up the ceiling. Tonight, going out, restaurant, dinner, suit and sock and tie, and homework. Not that anyone would actually kill him for not doing his homework for a person like him could pull off any random excuse and get away with it too easy, and as tempting as it sounded, he wouldn’t do it, not that he couldn’t, he just wouldn’t, ever. It was one of reason why he had begged Bruce to let him spent one precious year in here anyway.

Dick was in the middle of thinking about calling for Alfred to get his clothes ready but Bruce had probably done that already. When his backpack was handed to him by someone, it took him a moment looking at it until he realized people were leaving the classroom, class had end and he didn’t even attend half of it, consciously.

“Uh… thanks?” He took his backpack and realized the person handed it to him, it was the new girl. “You’re Megan, right?”

“Yep!” She nodded, hands tucked right back behind her back, her big brown eyes blinked when looking at him. “That red hair guy said this was yours and was about to hand it to you but I was gonna ask you something anyway.” She shrugged, now that Dick noticed, she was wearing the black gold cheerleader uniform.

“Oh, Wally.” It took him a moment to remember which redhead he shared this class with cause, well, he had a lot of redhead friends. “Right, thanks. What do you need, anyway?”

“There are some moves…” She ducked her head down, letting her ponytail fall down her shoulder, feet crisscrossing each other. “The girls are all unoccupied, but they said you can show me.”

“Yeah, sure! No prob.” He winked and noticed a light pink creep up her cheeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Wow!” Megan made a low whistle when she walked in, eyes all up to the ceiling and the equipment on it. Her face was literally glowing and the excitement in it made Dick feel light and happy.

“Just drop your bag over here, and remember to take your shoes off before you get on the carpet.” He took off his own shoes and put it the counter next to the entrance, Megan just nodded and did the same, eyes dragging all over the place.

 

He went to the changing room to put on his training outfit and headed out to do the regular stretching routine, fairly aware of Megan choking on her breath when he did a full back bend with his legs straight.

 

“How do you do it?” Megan perched on where she was seating next to him.

“Do what?”

She perched her neck and shrugged, eyes rolled and hands waved around.

“All of this.”

He let out a laugh and reached his hand to touch his toes while doing the split.

“Practice,” He laughed again when she rolled her eyes. “Lots and lots of practice.”

 

He finished the last pose then stood up, grinning at Megan.

“I’m done. What do you want me to show you?”

“Um… the cartwheel, the bridge and the toe touch jump.”

“Oh, piece of cake.”

“To you.” She rolled her eyes.

“You’ll get there.”

 

It would take time, always did, but everything could be fixed with a little patience, even Bruce’s grumpy mood.

 

Dick watched Megan awkwardly get into position with a tight frown on her face like she was waiting to be slapped.

“Relax, Megan. Lose your muscle!”

“It easy for you to say. Feels like my skin is getting torn off!” She grunted when Dick pushed her legs further apart.

“Relax or else you’re gonna hurt yourself.”

“Well, touché cause I already am.” Megan bit her lip to the point that it must be bleeding.

“Talk to me, tell me about anything you want.”

 

Dick tried his best to smooth her down, voice whispered and hands gently touched her legs, trying to ease off the pain and the hard tension in it, but somehow she even tensed up more.

“Tell me about school, the girls and boys and the gossip you heard from Steph.”

“O..okay.” She breathed out heavily and tried to nudge her feet a bit higher, her hands shook like they were going to give up at any time soon. Dick made sure to hold her body in place. “The last room in the girl W.C on the corner stinks like dead rat, the girl next to my locker has a bird in her backpack and I’m pretty sure somebody made out in the pool today.”

“You’re doing great, tell me more.” The more she talked, the more she got distracted from the pain and what he was doing.

“Stephanie said your father gave the principal 100,000$ to look over you.”

“I can’t control what he does.” Dick shrugged because this wasn’t a subject he was too fond to talk about with someone that wasn’t his close friend. People always got curious, hard to blame them when there was a billionaire’s son next to them, but Dick wasn’t entirely comfortable talking about these kinds of thing.

 “He loves you.”

 

It was a statement.

“I overheard your conversation.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”

“How much did you hear?”

“Uh… mostly the end. I think everyone heard it too. We waited for you to finished then got out.”

 

Oh boy, he did _not_ wish to know that.

 

“I know what people usually think.” He said, smiling down at Megan. “Bruce… he’s everything to me, a guardian, a partner, a friend, and a father, but he’s nothing more than those things. He loves me, because I’m his family, and he’s my family too.”

Dick kept himself concentrate and pulled Megan’s legs higher to a perfect straight line, feeling guilty when trying to distract her away from this conversation with the pain. Bruce loved him, he knew that, and he loved him too, but he didn’t like someone from the outside to talk about this like some housewife’s gossip, the press had done enough already.

 

“Hey, you talk something. Your daily life must be one hell of a fairytale.” Megan grunted out and loudly breathed through her mouth. She was doing great, her body was a little stiff and she kept tensing up like someone was pointing a gun at her back, but she hadn’t told Dick to stop, at least not until this moment, and that was the best he could ask for from a beginner.

“Ha, actually it’s not that much. The press just likes to make a fuss out of it.” It was quite tiring, actually, galas, meetings, dinners, press and paparazzi could drive his head over the edge sometimes. Not to mention the gossips at school and the too obvious favoritism from the teachers over the shadow of Bruce’s money.

“Oh please, I’m not gonna sell anything to the press.” Megan huffed out a laugh. Her sweat rolled of her face so Dick used the back of his hand to wipe it off for her. The skin was hot and suddenly the muscle of her legs went all hard like a rock.

“Wow… easy, are you hurt?”

“N…no! Nothing, it’s nothing.” She breathed out and looked away, hiding her head between her arms. And just for that, looking at her, it finally clicked in. It was his fault.

Suddenly, he didn’t know what to say. It always threw him off guard when realizing how people reacted to his touch. Dick knew he was good-looking, the papers made sure to let him acknowledge it, but to know that he had this kind of effect on people, it was quite awkward, especially when it was someone you barely knew, or knew too well.

“Any…anyway, why did you come to Gotham High?”

The stretch was over, and Dick helped her to get up, but the question was still on.

“You were doing great, at Gotham Academy, I mean. I googled it, last night, one Gymnastic gold medal, one fast calculating price from The Young Gifted and Talented Program in U.K, and a National Rhetoric award, all in one year. They call you the Golden Boy, and I saw pictures, that place looks like Hogwarts, why did you even step your foot in here?”

 

 

Why?

 

Damn, Bruce looked at him and the same question just hovered around his face every dinner.

 

“I guess we all need a little ordinary in our life.”

 

Because even with Bruce, Alfred and Damian’s appearance, the Manor felt too big and cold sometimes, the galas and the fancy parties were just a big show, and the press and paparazzi wouldn’t give him a break. This school, this little normal typical high school that he had had to put on such a fight with Bruce to be able to attend, was the only thing he coulp keep simple and out of the light, the only place where he didn’t have to be anything but himself.

He smiled at the thought, and Megan looked straight back at him. He could see the wheels gearing inside her head and there was a mix of something on her face. She must have not expect him to say something like that, because her mouth slid open and her eyes kept staring with that unexpected look, like that line he had made punched conscience out of her.

 

And Dick saw it, there was something in the way she looked at him, and slowly released a smile. She was a run-off too, heading to this city and blending into this school to flee away from something, because the sympathy in the light of her eyes, and the tattoo on the inside of her left thigh, because he had always been too good at reading people.

 

It must had been too quiet, and too long the moment they stared at each other, enough that the voice at the door made him startle and jump up.

“Yo, Goldie!”

 

Jason, on his leather jacket with a black backpack over one side of his shoulder, was leaning at the doorframe. He made a low and long whistle while walking over their place, hands tucked deep inside the pockets of his jean. His eyes roamed all over the place even though Dick knew he had seen it far too much to pull on such an act.

 

“Jason.” Dick straightened his posture and turned to fully face him, wincing while watching the guy stepped his booted feet on the carpet. “What do you want?”

Jason huffed and stepped closer to him.

“Hello to you too, Dick.” He then rolled his eyes to watch over Megan, who had apparently chosen to use Dick’s shoulder as a shield away from the football player. “And hi there, cutie.”

Jason winked and Dick automatically used his hand to shield Megan away. It was never good when letting innocent girls like her near someone like Jason, consider the guy had quite a reputation and had probably broke the heart of half of the girls in this school.

His gaze was back on Dick and he swallowed hard, he wasn’t in the mood for a fight, and up to this close, Jason’s body was like 6 foot 2’ of brick wall.

 

“What do you want?” He asked again, making sure to not break his eyes away from Jason. God knew what he would do.

Jason smirked and it showed bitterness, his eyes darted away before it came back staring at Dick.

“Ya always in mood for this shit, huh!?” He crocked his eyebrows and looked at Dick like he was an annoying cat that kept tugging at his feet, oblivious of how Jason could kick off any time he wanted. It made Dick angry, feeling something hot blooming inside of his chest like a small explosion, spreading all over to his arms and stomach.

“Maybe because you keep bringing _this shit_ to me.” Dick let his voice out low and clear, enjoying the flutter inside his gut while Jason’s face twitched, lips put into a thin line. “I remember correctly you are the one that makes fun of me every time we meet. It’s a thing for you, it seems, making jokes over people like me and enjoy seeing them frustrate with it.”

 

Dick could felt Megan’s hand on his forearm and it was tugging tightly, like she was warning him. He tucked her closer behind his back because she didn’t deserve to be in this fight between them. He was obvious to the fact that he had pushed the right button when Jason’s hands fisted tight enough his knuckles turned white and Dick could hear the sound of it cracking. Over all the things he had done, Jason Todd just hated being signed as a bully, especially by him.

Dick could hear the gulp inside Jason’s throat before the guy pulled his lips into a smirk with heavy tension in his eyes.

“Maybe I’ll stop when you get the sparkly spandex off your ass.”

 

And that was it, like the final drop that spilled the already full glass. Dick was lack of sleep, of energy, he was having a post light hangover over the amount of champagne he had been forced to take last night, and most of all, he was so over this shit of Jason.

“It’s always about it, isn’t it?! About how tight my clothes are, how my body looks, and what I do that doesn’t fit your critical eyes. Well, if it bother your tremendous mind so much, why don’t you just stop looking then, or I don’t know, pretend like I don’t exist?! I believe that would be a release for you. Or is it your problem, that you can take your eyes off me?!”

 

Dick could feel Megan’s eyes on the back of his head, could feel her grip on his arm. She was confused, in awe, and he didn’t blame her. He had thrown a grenade at Jason and watched it blasted, something he didn’t usually do, or had never done before to be honest. Spending too much time with Bruce and Damian had passed some of their sass to him. Dick was so blaming them for this.

But after all, he wasn’t sure if it had any effect on Jason, the guy always threw sarcasm at him like he had been collecting and keeping it inside himself, just waiting for opportunity to spring it out like confetti.

If Jason was offended, angry or about to punch him square in the jaw, Dick didn’t know it, and not interested too, even with the possibility of getting hurt, he just didn’t want to share the space with this guy anymore. He took Megan’s wrist and walked pass Jason. He got on his shoes and gave Megan her backpack before getting his own.

He was right at the door before he decided to throw out the last hit, and though he hated this, hated this power he had in hand, hated to brag it out like a priggish brat, yet, his eyes barely met the broad back of Jason through the half-glance over his shoulder.    

“You might want to get out before I call the guard. This place is mine, after all.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come [here](http://moonfox281.tumblr.com/) if you need something or just like to chat ;) i take prompt too, so feel free to ask.


	4. Chapter 4

 

 

 

It was socially awkward, how everything had turned to be. How life as teenagers had always turned to be. It was all about looks, social media, girls and guys and first kiss, first make out, first crush, about how you would fit in.

Dick hadn’t cared about that, all of that, he’d never thought he would. But he did, now.

 

People were staring, all of them. Every walk he took felt heavier with hundreds of eye pinning on it. He got the stares, all the time, he knew he was good looking, and knew people liked him. But this was different, there was something in those gazes that just thrust the thought into his head that this wasn’t the kind of staring he usually got. And there were something too, that made the kid’s eyes in school scarier than the media’s and paparazzi lens.

Roy understood, he knew it all too well. While he hadn’t… wouldn’t ever be able to put on a show like Dick always could, had never been favorite by many eyes, and being a street rat got the awe to live with one of the richest of Star City did a number. He knew how things could get so scary by just a glance, just a small whisper, or a simple finger secretly pointed toward him.

He knew it all, was seeing it right now, all those eyes, all those shocked faces, all those phones ready in hands, all of it, toward Dick.

 

The smile from the previous joke between them had died off his face, and those beautiful blue eyes were looking around, confused, lost, and scared.

Roy didn’t have much change to see Dick getting scared. Growing up with the guy, those rare moments only happened when an angry or disappointed Bruce appeared in the picture, because Dick always got that sense of respect and honor for him, always saw the man as something high and untouched, respected and obeyed him in every cause. Dick would take a knife for Bruce, and he would take it smiling.

 

“Roy…” Dick whispered breathlessly as he slightly groped the hem of Roy’s basketball jacket with two of his fingers, lips twitching and eyes staring forward. The sight put a hit to Roy’s head, and he took a second to actually realize that this, was serious, this, was something that definitely had gone wrong. Because people never looked at Dick like this, and now the scene was ticking all of his nerves.

 

He spotted Jason with his backpack leaning against the lockers, next to a girl, as always. He had realized that something was wrong too, because he looked around and watched the school practically stopped everything to turn their visions toward Dick, and he was looking at Roy with a big “WTF” on his forehead.    

Stephanie ran down the hallway, the look on her face said it all.

“Dick, I…”

She never got to finish the sentence, as a hand rested on her shoulder. It was Mr. Clark.

“Mr. Grayson, come to the office with me please.” Dick had always been his favorite, and he always liked him enough to call him “Grayson”.

 

The word “office” hit him like a truck, Dick had never been called up to the office, it had always been people from the office that found their way to him.

 

“…Okay.” Dick looked at Mr. Clark, then at Roy, and the look in his eyes was making Roy want to snatch him into an inappropriate hug and just shield him from the rest of the world.

 

The walk to the office seemed endlessly long, and his feet got heavier with every step closer to the door. When they made it, there were two men in black standing outside, and one on the seat, one that Dick realized was Bruce’s secretary.

His blood ran cold when the man stood up, fixed his tie and just smiled at him.

“Mr. Wayne, I’m sure this will be quick. Your father has already been inside.”

 

He let the man’s hand rested on his back and turned back to look at Roy, wanted to tell him to stay and wait, but didn’t find the strength to.

Roy, as always, read his mind and took his hand, squeezed it tightly before letting go and spoke softly.

“I’ll be right behind this door.”

 

He nodded and let the guard opened the door for him.

Though was warned, still, seeing Bruce seating in the office chair made his heart beat faster and his limps tingling.

The principal looked at him with a tired smile, the kind of smile that said: “It’s not your fault, but this is giving me a headache.” Bruce’s face was cold, he looked just like every day in his grey Armani suit, but Dick had never seen so much anger wrestling in those icy eyes of his before, and it made his heart rate shot all the way up.

 

“Richard, I’m sorry for calling you like this, but please sit down.” The principal smiled at him again and pointed his hand down the chair next to Bruce’s.

Dick was about to take it, was still fighting with the thought of what on Earth he had done wrong that could possibly lead to this. He saw it then, the pictures.

They were right on the principal’s table, openly exposed for everyone to see. Dick’s knees weakened and his vision went blurry for a few seconds.

 

It was all his, or, put it more correctly, all about him.

Shirtless, bare ass, naked, showering, changing... all of it, so many of it, all taken from weird angles, many were half cut off by a door or some objects, some were stark clear that it could catch the water running off his skin.

Dick felt sick, felt his stomach flip and blood stop running. Bruce stood up like he was ready to catch his fall at any time.

 

“Richard, please sit down and we can solve this problem together.” The principal pleaded in his most calm voice, Dick could tell he was trying too.

“What…” He wanted to say a lot, but that was all that came out. Beside him, Bruce’s breathing turned slow and heavy, it meant that he was getting angry, or angrier, and that did not help the coiling panic inside Dick at all.

Bruce gently pushed him down the seat and pulled his own closer till their shoulders bumped into each other.

 

“One of our teachers got these photos being traded between students in the break, they were being sold. The source is still unknown, and we didn’t manage to catch those students, they escaped before our teacher managed to see their faces clear.”

 

His ears were ringing, and he fought for every single breath he took.

 

“Richard, I understand that you’re the victim in this situation, but I need you to remain calm and tell us if you have any idea who could be the one that took these pictures? And do you know anything about it?”

 

If these pictures went out, to the public, to the social media, his reputation would be ruined, Bruce’s reputation…

No.

 

“Mr. Principal, you’re asking my son to guess the name of the pervert, who is one of your many students and also the one your teacher failed to catch, that took these pictures without my son’s permission and sold it to others. I have no intention of being offensive, but if that’s the head of this school speaking, then either this place is just that substandard, or you are clearly not suitable for the position.”

Bruce’s voice was full of ice and steel. Dick didn’t have the courage to look up into his eyes, was too busy staring dumbfounded to the photos on the principal’s table. His mind ran through the gaze of the whole school toward him.

They knew.

They knew, and they would post it online, on Facebook and Twitter and all stuff like that, would spill the story out to every corner of this city while playing the sympathy game. The media would use this to turn it into a knife to stab on Bruce’s back, the W.E stock value would drop, and it would affect Bruce’s business and reputation.

Dick felt like throwing up.

 

“This conversation is over.” Bruce pushed the chair back, glared at the principal and watched his mouth slightly parted as his hand snaked down to lightly squeeze Dick’s. “Lucas will insist you to my car, tell Alfred I’ll be home soon and will remain so till the rest of the evening.” He turned down and quirked his lips into the tiniest smile to Dick, eyes softened.

“I’m going home?”

“Yes, I don’t want you to stay and endure this any longer.”

 

He didn’t want to either.

Lucas walked behind his back and placed a light gripe on his shoulder as a support.

“What about you?”

“I want to have a few words in privacy with your teachers and the principal.”

 

A few words he had said, meant threatening or playing his business voice that the Gotham Gazette wouldn’t believe could possibly belong to their ‘Brucie’. Dick didn’t argue though, he just nodded and let Bruce’s secretary slowly lead him out of the room.

 

When the door opened, Roy was sitting right there, hands entwined together, elbows rested on knees with a look of distance in his eyes. Jason Todd was standing right next to him, back leaning into the wall behind.

They both stumbled and straightened up when Dick went out with the secretary.

Roy shot up from his seat and took Dick’s shoulders to pull him into a hug.

“I swear to God, I’m gonna kill that fucker.” He whispered into Dick’s hair as his hold got tighter.

“You knew?” His voice came out a little shaken, but this was Roy, his best friend, so it should be fine. He wasn’t supposed to hold anything back with Roy.

“Yeah, Jason told me.”

They broke apart and Dick turned to look at Jason, who was still standing there and said nothing.

“Uh… the girls told me.” _Liar_. He pushed a guy’s head against the locker and demanded information, because Steph looked like she was about to cry and Barbara was on her furious mode. “I’m sorry, for what happened.”

Jason bit his own tongue after the sentence slipped out. It wasn’t what he wanted to say. “I’m sorry”?! It was the most stupid and useless thing to say, but Roy kinda fucking took his line, and Jason found himself nowhere near the position to say something like that. Dick just smiled and nodded a polite “thank you”, Jason wondered how much he had meant it, or was that smile real at all.

The situation was pushing up his nerves, the two guards in black suits that looked like a pair of fucking Great Dane hovering protectively around their master, and that guy in the navy suit that stood awkwardly close to Dick was picking Dick’s backpack up from Roy’s previous seat.

The whole scene was abnormal to Jason, was pretty abnormal to everyone, and Roy was shamelessly caressing his friend’s face, and Dick was looking small, and terrified and vulnerable, so different with when he held his head up high and looked at Jason with an argument ready on his lips.

It made Jason fidgeted, his body ached between snatching Dick out of the red head’s hands, pushing him against the wall, and looking away. 

 

“Do you need me to,… I don’t know, get you something? Hey, we can go to Wendy’s after school.” Roy was rambling, laughing awkwardly to hide his panic.

Dick just smiled tiredly and shook his head, letting the long strains of black silk fall prettily down to his jam blue eyes.

“Nah, I’m going home now.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?”

“Yeah, apparently.”

“Do you need a lift?”

“Thanks, but I’m going with Bruce.”

 

Jason just stood there like a stupid rock, too alien to the conversation, and too eager to be a part of it. It was _jealousy_ , and _annoyance_ , but sometime the boundary between the two was too faded to make a difference. But was it matter? After all, this was all he got for himself, being jealous of what they had between each other, and getting annoyed when he couldn’t have it.

  

“Hey, call me, okay?” Roy was being Roy again, and it wasn’t supposed to be this hard for Dick to realize the guy had fallen all over for him. But Dick was being Dick, and that meant oblivious and too nice to notice he sometimes hurt people in the sweetest way.

“Okay.”

 

Maybe he was high, or maybe seeing Roy got to have too many pieces of the guy he like made something snapped, or maybe because what had happened that pushed his mind into an empty zone and let his stupid _stupid_ body take action, whatever it was, before Jason knew it, his hand had already set a dead grip on Dick’s wrist. And Dick was looking at him like he just grew a second head,… maybe he did.

 

“I…” He stumbled on his own word, unknowing what to say, but just stubborn enough to refuse to let go. He could feel the tension in Dick’s eyes, could feel that he was readying himself for a fight, a fight that was always there waiting for them whenever they got close enough to each other, a fight that probably both of them were so got damn sick of, but didn’t ever stop bringing up, ‘cause it was the only excuse Jason got to keep Dick talking to him and leaving a spot in his mind, even an ugly ass one.

He didn’t want one right now, and Dick sure was too damn tired of it.

“I’m sorry.” He said it again, successfully making a foul of himself, and also managed to sound even stupider then last time, because as much as he felt, his brain immediately empty out, he hadn’t planned to grip Dick’s wrist, to pull him back, or to even say anything, and the ocean of Dick’s eyes was threatening to swallow his whole.

 “That guy… I don’t know, maybe it can be a girl, the one who took those photos, is a fucking perv. You didn’t deserve it.”

 

The words set Dick off guard, and he wanted nothing more than to slap at that handsome face to check if this was actually the Jason Todd he had known so far. He shouldn’t though, Jason was built like a brick wall, and hiding behind his guards after suddenly slapping someone out of the blue just made him a bigger jerk. Anyway, Dick was tired, and he felt naked when standing in front of someone that was not Roy, some one that was in the same school with his, and someone whom he occasionally fought with.

Maybe Jason was just messing with him, maybe he would come the next day laughing at his face, maybe. But Dick didn’t care anymore, not with this bomb up his head readied to explode at any second. He wanted to go home, get some milk with cookies and a hug from Alfred, then live in his room till the rest of his life, or maybe pack up and pretend to be dead then flee to Europe by his parents’ fortune.

The thought was actually tempting.

 

“Thank you.” He nodded and smiled because Alfred taught “manner maketh man”, and it was never hard to pretend, at least not to him. “I never knew you’d care.”

Jason flinched and Dick wasn’t paying enough attention to clarify it. Maybe his mind was playing tricks because for a moment, he actually thought Jason looked hurtful. And his grip on Dick’s wrist tightened, like he needed a support, or to make sure Dick wouldn’t try to run off before he got a chance to say something over that.

“I care.” He said, slightly ducking his head aside and refuse to meet his eyes before taking a sharp inhale. “I’ve always cared, you just don’t know.”

If Jason was playing around, then he was doing a spot on job of it.

“Maybe, or you’ve never shown.”  

 

This time, he twisted and pulled his wrist free even though Jason tried to hold on tighter because Lucas was giving him a look that would demand an explanation later, and the way Jason acted and talked was giving so many different thoughts to his already scrambled mind.

 

Dick bided Roy a goodbye and left with the men, trying to hold his head as high as possible when he felt Jason’s gaze pinning on him. And that was all it, their first non-conflicting conversation in what felt like forever, and it ended with one walking away. Jason had always knew it would be Dick, because he had dreamed of this, that one day they wouldn’t need to shove their teeth toward each other’s neck to get together. It still stung though, knowing that it was always an endless road from dreamland to reality.

 

“Ha, thought you guys were gonna fight like usual.” Roy’s voice was tight, shaken a little bit like a rubber band ready to snap, because he had definitely spotted something wrong between them, and this was him using his awkward half-hearted laugh to hide the hint of his doubt.

 

 

 

The walk to the car was long, and it shouldn’t be this exhausting, but it was. Dick tried to ignore the eyes and whispers and the crowd behind his back as they openly gossiped and pointed their fingers and phones toward him, the guards, Bruce’s Audi and the guards’ Range Rover.

He didn’t say anything after getting in and when Lucas smiled and tried to cheer him up, he just stared outside the black tinted glass, waited for Bruce and wished him to just hurry up so they could leave as soon as possible.

He felt like crying, felt the burning sensation had already been there in the corner of his eyes. And when Dick planted his elbows beside the glass, he stared blankly at the bruise starting to form on his wrist, mind slowly washing away as the crowd outside slowly being dissolved by the teachers.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> come and meet me at [tumblr](https://moonfox281.tumblr.com/)


	5. Tim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I found a beta! And she's amazing. Thank God I have you [solalea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/solalea) ♥

 

 

The school was crazy, everyone gossiped, everyone stared. Not at him though, never at him. Sometimes they looked back at him when passing by, because Tim knew he was fine looking. But no, the staring had always been for Dick, because aside from the fame and money and background, that guy wasn’t just fine looking, he was what artists would paint and photographers would shoot photos of without hesitance. This time though, this time it wasn’t about his beauty anymore.

 

This boring place had always been so interesting after Dick had come here, so full of energy and looking so alive with his smiles and loud laughter echoing everywhere. Now, the week seemed longer without Dick here.

 

“Get the fuck outta my way!” Jason roared, voice angry and sounding so dangerous. He punched his locker and the action frightened every single person around him. The ocean of people in the hallway tore itself in two to make a clear path for Jason.

No one wanted to mess with him. Tim didn’t want to mess with him.

 

“Is he okay?” Steph asked, hand slightly clutched to the hem of his shirt as her eyes locked on Jason’s stiff back. Steph could be tough when she wanted, but just like Dick, she cared for too many, and Jason made it too easy to care for him.

“No, he’s not.” He answered.

 

They both knew something was wrong with Jason, something was wrong that made him look even more predatory than usual, something that made him snap and scream in anger every time a group started to form and gossip. Tim knew what that _something_ was.    

Phones were suddenly banned while in classes, teachers hovered in the hallway like a pack of hunting wolves, random students got called to the office every day, and Dick, Dick hadn’t been at school for a week. 

 

“He misses him.” Tim said, he said it because Steph knew everything he knew and she made it so easy to speak.

“We all do.”

 

They all did, and a fear in Tim lit up when he saw a man dressed in a sleek suit walk his way into the principal’s office yesterday. A Wayne worker.

A Wayne worker coming to the school was never something good.

 

“This is not fair.” Steph looked at him, eyes shining so bright Tim thought he could be drown in them. “Out of all people, he’s the last to deserve this.”

“We’ll find the one who did this.” He smiled and looked at her, he just wanted so badly to write off the sadness in her eyes. Steph loved Dick, not that kind of _love_ though, thank God, she cared and adored him the same way Tim did, the same way everyone around Dick did. And watching the star in her heart get shot and fall out of the sky like this did things to her. Things Tim wished he could just fix. 

 

And Tim had tried, was still trying. Digging around the history browser at school, hiding in restrooms just to eavesdrop on random conversations. Tim knew he went a bit overbroad when following Denver and his crew after school just because they had been looking a bit suspicious, but Dick was the one he looked up to too. Dick was the first in so long that made him feel this way, and he did not deserve to be treated like this, like a cheap toy in the store laid out there for anyone to touch and mock.

Whoever took those photos and passed them out around the school for other students, Tim would get to the bottom of this.

 

He stayed at the library after school, still trying to find at least a single clue as to who could have access to Dick’s gym without getting attention because not a lot of people stepped their feet in there if they weren’t Dick’s friend. Tim didn’t get a look on the pictures, no one did, so he was going to have to do all of this bare handed.

Challenges had never seemed so tempting before.

 

“Yeah, Mom. I’ll be back at 5… Yes, I promise.” Back at 5 meant back at somewhere a little bit after 6. Tim just really hoped his mom didn’t cook anything amazing tonight. The science club had ended early today, lacking the appearance of their vice-president. Tim wasn’t the charmer Dick was, and he was pretty sure more than two thirds of the girls who’d signed up for the club were there for him.

Sighing out of frustration, he walked through the gym, Dick’s gym. He could see through the open door the pommel horse, the parallel bars, still rings and aerial silks on the ceiling, balance beam and all the equipments left abandoned and unused. He remembered enjoying walking in this hall every time, because he would get a chance to see Dick practice his moves and defy gravity. He always looked so amazing up in the air, smiling so brightly it drew everyone’s attention toward him.

The memory of it drew Tim inside, drew him toward the shower room where he knew the photos had been taken, the photos that no one had been able to see. When words that nude pictures of Richard Grayson-Wayne came out the same day he was called to the office, the school had gone all over the story. No evidence was leaked out since the Wayne’s stepped their foot in the case, every student’s social media account was heavily guarded, and Dick stopped coming to school. But school was school, and the more you hid, the more they talked about it.   

 

There were three stalls, big and clean, no doors, just thick waterproof blinds. Tim had no idea whether Dick used one of them or switched randomly. The stalls were located in the hall at the end of room, behind three rows of lockers. For someone to take photos of Dick showering, they would have to hide behind these lockers, and the curtains must be opened. At the end of the hall had a small vanity sink with a big mirror that hugged both corners, there were two baskets on the dark marble surface, one had shaving foam and two electric razors placed inside, and the other had hand washing gel and hand towels. Everything looked pretty new so Dick must not have touch them much. This place even got its own toilet stalls, which Tim was feeling a little jealous of right now. Wayne money and all that.

Tim hadn’t stepped foot in here before, he only got to watch Dick from outside and the whole place looked even cleaner than the teacher’s restroom. The vanity sink looked great and Dick even got a tube of hair gel in one of the baskets, and the mirror and lighting were all perfect. This must be why Dick always looked so spotless in school.

 

Everything was perfect but some part of it felt like it wasn’t.

 

Tim didn’t know why but something was wrong. Something didn’t look right, out of place, just a slight, but through his eyes it felt like a damn bean under the princess’s bed. He skimmed around, trying to find what was bugging him. The sink looked fine, the stuff in the baskets looked fine, even the tap looked fine, even the mirro…

 

 

The mirror.

It looked like it floated forward a little too much, like the reflection was just a second from jumping out and hitting the person in front of it. This shouldn’t be a problem if the whole room didn’t look like it cost $15,000 and maybe more. Whoever spent $15,000 for a locker room had high expectations and would not make a stupid mistake like that, especially when this place was custom made for Dick under the cover of a charity case.

Tim had seen Bruce Wayne before, had seen Bruce Wayne with his son on the day Dick first transferred here. Mr. Wayne loved his son, one glance and anyone could easily see it. He was the man that made thousands with every step he took, but wouldn’t mind taking his son’s backpack for him, wouldn’t mind asking every embarrassing question out of concern that had made Dick flushed like a red-headed woodpecker. That kind of man wouldn’t shy from spending good money for the best for his son. And Tim had been to Wayne Galas with his parents before, _everything_ must look spotless.

This mirror wasn’t spotless, it _was_ the spot.

 

He touched the mirror and checked the corners, the two edges of it had white dust on them, little enough to be unnoticeable. The wall had scrape marks on it, too little to easily spot for just anyone. Tim wasn’t just anyone. It looked like the mirror had scraped the wall, like it had been moved away and placed back unwillingly.

Why? And why the mirror? It didn’t make much difference, it only made the appearance slightly unsightly. And moving it wasn’t an easy task at all, so why all the fuss to just do that? Why that and not anything else? Everything in here was only purchased 6 months ago, perfectly timed for Dick to move in and use them, so no way it already needed to be checked and replaced. This whole room was…

…

Room?

…

Room…

 

 

To make room!

 

Tim’s eyes shot right up and something else hit his eyes, _his hand_. The hand he put on the mirror while checking it, its reflection. Something was wrong, its reflection stuck to his hand like a colored shadow, no gap. No gap at all. With any second-surface mirror, a gap between the object and its reflection will be visible because a layer of clear glass has been incorporated over the reflective part of the mirror to better protect it. Only first-surface glass didn’t cause that gap, and it was quite expensive and was generally used only for specialized applications such as fine optical instruments or lasers, in which a protective layer of glass would interfere with the path of light or diminish precision. That was why the normal mirrors people usually came in contact with were second-surface mirrors, they were used everywhere, in changing rooms, vanity tables, restrooms, literally anywhere.

This, however, was not one.

 

This thing he was touching now, it was a two-sided mirror.

A two-sided mirror in the changing room.

 

The thought sent a shiver down his spine and made him drop his backpack with his laptop and expensive tech gear he always carried around with a loud thump like a lame garbage bag.

This… this wasn’t just something, this wasn’t just… He heard rumors, the same rumors and stories that the whole school told and listened too, about pictures of naked Dick that had been caught and sold around the school for god knew who. That was a crime, that alone was enough to put someone under arrest and behind bars for many months, but this, this was serious. This was stalking and invading personal space and spying. This wasn’t just a small case anymore, this needed to be took over by law enforcements, by laws and rules and oh my god, how long ago had the mirror been replaced, and what on Earth would he find behind it?

 

Tim found himself taking steps back and feeling ill, feeling like falling ass flat down on the floor and breathing like he had asthma. This was wrong, this was wrong and someone had to know about it, the principal had to know about it, Dick had to know about it. Dick…

No.

If people knew about this, what would happen? They would start a charge and open an investigation, something this big and terrible, it would go out and go public, Dick’s reputation would be ruined. With someone as important and popular as Dick, his whole life could be ruined, even when he was the victim. And the one who did this, they still got photos of Dick, photos and maybe even footage, things that they could easily leak online when feeling threatened, things that would definitely ruined Dick _forever_.

 

Tim couldn’t do that, he couldn’t.

 

 

“Nerd?”

 

Tim flinched and turned back immediately, shocking whoever had called him.

“Jesus crap, Tim! What the hell are you doing on the floor?” Jason came over and helped him get up, eyes skimming up and down to check if anything was wrong. “And what the hell are you doing in here?”

 

It took him a moment to put the question together and when he did, Jason was looking at him like he had just grown a second head. He was still sweating like he just got out of a sauna.

“Hey man, are you okay?” Jason put a hand on his shoulder and shook a little. ‘A little’ that turned to ‘too much’ because Tim wasn’t in his right mind right now, and of course, Jason’s arms. Seriously, this guy looked like he could punch through a wall.

“I’m fine.” He managed to blurt out after too many second. “What are _you_ doing in here?”

 

Jason turned to stone in a second, then looked away, a flush that Tim swore to God he didn’t expect to be there slowly crept its way up to his face and ears.

“I… he didn’t come to French class today, so I hoped I could find him here. Saw the light was on, thought it was him, turns out it was your dumb ass licking all over the floor.” Jason sighed through his nose and pushed his hair back, biting his lips like the words had physically hurt him.

Times like this made Tim realize how hopeless Jason actually was under all those tough guy layers. But that was probably why Tim liked him so much, because after all the things he did and said, he was still just a guy looking for love.

And maybe, maybe right now, he was just the right person Tim needed.

 

“Let’s get out of here.”

For the first time in forever, Tim found the strength to grab Jason’s massive arm and practically pulled him out of the gym. Jason yelped and cursed but didn’t fight back even though with one punch Tim would be flying out of the window, but he didn’t, even when question marks could be seen flying all around him.

 

“Fuck, what was that for?!!” Jason roared like an angry animal and yanked his arm free when they stopped in the empty hallway.

“Shut up, I need your help.”

The frown on Jason’s face turned into a douchey smirk in mere seconds. Tim wondered how this guy lived sometimes.

“Ooh, the great mighty Drake needs my help?”

 “Quit it, it’s about Dick.”

That smirk fell right off his face, making something in Tim twist a little for how much Jason loved Dick.

“Talk.” He ordered, like Tim was one of the guys on his team.

 

He couldn’t do this alone, who knew what was behind that mirror. There was a chance his face had been captured, so he could have their attention now. That could be a good thing, for Tim to easily notice someone unusual out of place. But it could also limit his investigation, which was why Jason was needed.

The guy loved Dick, and everyone feared him. He was Tim’s friend, and right now, he was exactly what Tim needed.

 

“Jason, you need to know this.”

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

_“Dodge, punch, kick!”_

_“Come on, you fight like a hooker. Don’t be a pussy!”_

_The same line, repeating every two seconds, every 8 hours, every single day. At a dark cold 5AM when everyone was still supposed to be asleep, and at 1PM when the sun shined so brightly it hurt your head and made the dumps smell worse._

_Sometimes he would pull him out in the middle of the night too, when it was stark darkness outside and probably wasn’t even safe to go around the neighborhood, but he never complained. It was better this way, better having him conscious and happy like this when Jason made a move just right, than having him inside playing with the bottles he bought from pickpocketing money and abusing mom when the liquor took the hold of him._

_His dad was a shitty father and a shitty husband, all wrapped up in a shitty person. Out of all his shittiness the only thing he had ever seemed to do right was teaching Jason how to fight. He had wondered at first, how a man looking like him could possibly know how to fight. But that was where he was wrong._

_His dad could fight, he knew how to fight, he just didn’t have the strength nor the mind to. His body was always half liquor, and his head was always half tipsy. He knew how to fight because you couldn’t survive in Crime Alley if you didn’t know how to, not to mention living in it as a drug dealer._

_The man knew how to move, but the drugs and alcohol had sucked all the good parts of his body out, leaving only skin and bones and so little meat to do it right. His legs couldn’t even stand right, and his hands were weak, his limps now only strong enough to run or lift bottles or hurt his drugged-up mom._

_But he still remembered the moves. They were still there tucked under all the shit in his mind, and when he saw something in Jason, something that was so much like him when he was much younger, it helped dig them up._

_Jason had the strength his dad didn’t have, even as a kid. His moves were strong and his hits were ruthless. Adrenaline pumped through every strike and it got him, it fueled him good. Partly because he couldn’t wait to use all of this on his dad, waiting for the day he could beat this scumbag of a man into a bloody pulp, and partly was because seeing the man happy… made him happy too._

_This was the closest they could get to being father and son, fighting. So when he died, not too long before his mother overdosed herself, all Jason had left was fighting and all the things his dad had managed to teach him. Most of them were related to fighting, no shit._

_So he used it to survive, used it to make a living and used it to go on to a new life. He moved to Burnley, staying right in the area next to Otisburg where his school was at. Food and gas were expensive as fuck, but luckily for him this was Gotham, underground fighting never went out of style in this fucked up city._

_So he went to school and got popular there. Not intentionally of course, but he enjoyed the way people looked at him. It was better being admired or maybe even scaring others, than being ridiculed. School was just like life, and life was just like living in jungle, the only way to survive was to be the hunter, not the hunted._

_It was late fall that he first saw him. Handsome in all kinds of wrong ways and glowing. Glowing like he had just stepped fresh out of some magazine. When he smiled all Jason could do was stare, stare because no one should look this impossibly stunning._

_They had had words about him before he even got here, the whole school. The girls said he was a dream, looking flawless and charming like some kind of Arab prince. The boys said he was the richest, walking on money or eating gold flakes also like some kind of Arab prince, with about a dozen different oil mines in the family._

_To him, Richard Grayson Wayne was uncomfortably perfect._

_He smiled, and all hearts stopped, he spoke and the whole room fell into silence. He didn’t need to dominate like Jason did to have everything. He was rich, belonging to that 0.1% of the world that got everything, was handsome in a way that they usually described Greek gods, and he was smart, oh so smart that Ms. Lance had him as her own T.A. in a few classes._

_He had it too easy, had everything that he didn’t even have to ask for placed out in front of his face, begging for his attention. And that made Jason angry._

_“Yo, pretty.”_

_He liked to tease him, tease him like the routine he followed every time a new kid showed up on the block, that Jason was not someone to mess with, tease him to see if that perfectly sculpted face could ever go ugly when anger conquered, to see if he could ever drop that perfect smile for once, stop being perfect, and start being like every normal person in this school for once._

_But no, every time Jason received a smile back. A smile that was so sincere and professional it had him speechless. Wayne wore it like a mask, a golden clad one that had everyone ogling at._

_“So, you like sports?” Dick asked one time. Hard to believe a guy looking like this could prefer being called Dick more than his fancy sounding Richard name._

_“Damn good at it too.” He grinned, noticing that he liked the way it made Dick laughed._

_“Basketball huh? Captain?!”_

_Jason smirked and hooked his arm up to rest the elbow against the locker, showing how much bigger he was compared to the delicate features of this good looking rich kid._

_If it was one thing he had better than Wayne, then it was definitely muscle._

_“So,” He started, grinning wider since Dick was looking a little bit nervous. “You wanna join?”_

_“Me?” He laughed, looking away like he was actually considering it, even when Jason knew he wasn’t. He was just staying charming and chatty like all the girls squealed about. “I don’t know, I’m kinda occupied with other activities right now.”_

_Like hell if Jason was gonna let a spoiled brat be on his team, fucking ruin the formation and whine about training. Princesses like this weren’t made to sweat and bleed._

_“Shame then. You look like you need a little exercise. Gain something more on those chicken limbs, don’t you think?”_

_The face Wayne made could probably have Jason smirking for weeks. The smile froze on those girly pink lips, and he just looked at Jason like he might have heard it wrong._

_People had probably never said no to him before._

_Wayne never stopped trying though, trying to sway Jason with sweet smiles and terrible puns. The more he tried, the more it irritated Jason._

_“Why do you keep showing up in my face!” It came out more like a demand than a question, as Jason slammed the locker hard enough for the whole block to shake. The kid next to him immediately turned and ran, wanting nothing of this fight._

_“Because cool kids meet each other.” Wayne winked, must have killed dozens of girls with that act alone, but no, not Jason. If anything it only pissed him off even more._

_“I ain’t want any of your hot or cold. Just stay away from my team.”_

_“But the guys like me.” Dick whined._

_“They only like your money,” And connections. Everyone wanted to befriend the rich and powerful._

_“You speak too low of them.”_

_Even though he said so, Dick’s smile was cold and heavy, like he only said the words out of politeness. Once again, he had Jason speechless without even doing much._

_They were looking at each other for too long to notice Brandon jumping close._

_“Yo, Black Dog!” He clung on Jason’s shoulder, weighing like a pig even though he didn’t look like one. If anything Jason would say the guy was quite fit too._

_“It’s Black Wolf, asshole.” Jason grunted, shaking the guy off. “What’s wrong with you and the school’s sigil.”_

_“Dogs and wolves are all the same for me.” Bran gave him a toothy smile, and turned to eye Dick, brows shot up and all. “And what are you, beautiful, doing with this dump dog right here?”_

_Dick looked disinterested while they tackled each other like a bunch of 5 year olds, he smiled at Brandon and waved off politely before turning._

_“I’ll see you at the Fall Gala, Tolman.”_

_Bran waited till Dick’s figure went missing behind the hall to push on Jason’s shoulder, asking seriously._

_“So, you’re friends with Wayne now?”_

_“Is the guy not friends with anyone?”_

_“True.”_

_Not that they were friends, the only one that was being overly friendly was Dick. He was like a cat, having everyone entertained and happily watching him without doing much. Jason had to admit, the guy had the grace a boy shouldn’t possess, and it drew all kinds of wrong attention when they stood together._

_“So, what do you think about the rich brat?”_

_Bran said that like he didn’t enjoy having Dick in this school. The guy’s family was loath, the Tolman family owned a chain of retail markets, and Dick was probably one of the very few in this school that had the life as close to his. The ‘rich kid club’, his team liked to joke._

_Jason probably wouldn’t have ever befriended him if the guy didn’t have the same interest with him in MMA. And he was kinda cool sometimes, liked to invite Jason into his mad driving sessions and football practices._

_“He’s annoying, but harmless.”_

_As infuriating as it was watching Dick brag about galas parties and some lame shit of the elite world, he never once took his title out to prove that he was better than anyone. He probably didn’t need to though._

_“I think he’s gay.”_

_“Pfft, you serious?” Jason tried not to trip on his legs while laughing._

_“No, really man! I mean, have you seen his ass?”_

_“I think you are gay.”_

_“Yeah, I’m as gay as the sun is cold.” Bran rolled his eyes. “Seriously man, what kind of straight guys do cheerleading?”_

_“Wow hold it, you said what?”_

_Bran grinned like a shark._

_“You don’t know? So what shit do you think his daddy paid thousands for when building that gym for him? Richie got some torches for flips and splits, man.”_

_Jason had never once peeked through the doorway of that gym, the gym that Bruce Wayne and Gotham Academy had ‘so generously’ built for the school but turned out only Dick could use._

_That afternoon, Jason was leaving for training when he came across the new gym. Curiosity got the best of him so he peeked through the door, just to give the place a quick glance._

_Boy, never once in his life had he regretted anything more._

_Like water of a fountain, Dick moved in the silk like he was a part of it, body soft and moving like liquid, slowly sliding toward the mat down below like he was in slow-mo. Legs split and parted in angles that made even looking kinda painful, arms pulled tight and there were muscles twitching and coiled up like autumn wind, so damn soft, and so damn beautiful._

_He looked blissful like this. Dark hair all pulled up into a tight little bun with a few silky curls dropping down the sides of his cheeks, the sweat glittering on his skin under the bright light like that Twilight shit that had girls ogling over. Like taking punches, each smooth movement took the breath out of Jason, leaving him gasping and in suspense._

_This was wrong. This was so so wrong because last time he checked, he was still pretty into boobs and all stuff like that._

_“Yo Jaso_ _−”_

_“Jesus Crap!!!” Jason jumped, literally jumped. He did his best to dash himself behind the door and away from the straight view to the inside of the gym, praying to whatever god was up there for Dick to not see him._

_“Wow, you okay man?” Roy patted his back, looking half surprised, half amused by his reaction._

_“Shit, don’t walk behind my back like that. Scared the shit out of me.”_

_“Fine, cap.” Roy mused. “So, you’re here often?”_

_“I’m here often?! You’re here often!” Jason didn’t know why he was shouting, but it couldn’t be helped._

_“So, what’s up here?”_

_“Jesus CHRIST!!!!!” This time, this time Jason did shout out loud as Dick peeked his head out from the door and looked at both of them with big blue eyes._

_Weeks later found Jason peeking at the new gym once or twice every single day. He did a good job of acting like a plotting thief though, hiding behind the door, staring around with sweat all over his face and intense eyes fully alert in case any guy saw him lurking around the zone. Like a dog hiding its shit, Jason knew there was no honor in doing stuff like this. Hell, he remembered he even mocked boys doing girly shit like this with his team before, because that was how you got popular, that was how you got feared, by being mean. He didn’t act mean to do this shit, hiding behind poles and walls just to get a peek or a little glance over the fantastic moves Dick was doing._

_Every time Jason looked at him, he was flying. Up there, way up there where no one could touch him, looking awesome and flawless and just, invincible._

_Jason didn’t know half the things about artistic gymnastics, but he liked the way Dick expressed himself while doing it. He looked beautiful like this, more beautiful, if it was even possible._

_Jason tried not to be too drawn toward this, the stalking being creepy shit. But guess those judges on all the competitions Dick had been on so far were really onto something, because once he got a glimpse, he couldn’t look away._

_There was freedom in this boy, this beautiful boy that delivered the message so balletically in every single way he moved, it just forced people to be fascinated. Jason wished he could be like that, or at least look like that for just a single second in his life, so unimpeded and chain-free of all the rules, the difficulties and the cruelties of this world. Worse, there was a story behind it, behind every single spin and jump and every single magnificent gymnastics move Dick did, a story that Jason was beginning to get addicted to._

_He knew sooner or later, he would get caught, ducking behind the gym’s doors like he was about to steal something, he just didn’t wish for it to happen this soon._

_“So I have a stalker.” Dick crossed his arms, looking at him with a blank expression that Jason found difficult to face. “Should I ask why you hid behind the door and stared inside like you were peeking at the girl’s restroom?”_

_Jason was tongue-tied for more than a couple seconds. Dick was late for his usual practice routine today, he was supposed to be in there and not out here staring at Jason like this. For a moment, he felt like digging a hole and hiding down in the floor, or to just suddenly get the ability to be invisible. Dick just kept staring at him, waiting for an answer._

_“I… I umh… I…”_

_Shit Jason had heard giggles and shit talking about how Wayne looked like a fucking Greek god, but damn, a guy looking like this seriously shouldn’t be mortal at all. His eyes were big and so fucking blue Jason felt like they were piercing to the bottom of his soul, his lashes were way too long, fanning over his cheeks, leaving light dark shadow every time he blinked. And his lips, dear whatever God was watching up there, Jason felt like time had stopped when his eyes stumbled to meet them._

_What was this color, the one his lips possessed? It was so… pretty and inviting._

_“Hello? Back to Earth, Todd.”_

_Dick’s voice snapped him out of it. Jason didn’t even realize he was staring, but he was. And like natural instinct he snapped._

_“You think you look cool in those pretty little tights?!”_

_Things were a blur, in the next seconds._

_He freaked out. Jason freaked out. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to react. He just shouted and stormed away like Dick had insulted him, and not the opposite. He didn’t know this, about seeing someone as beautiful or being out of breath by them when that person wasn’t a girl or matched his father’s descriptions of a “nice catch”. So instead he snapped, he snapped like his father did to Mom a zillion times when he felt exactly the same; compromised and lost._

_Jason just turned and ran, ran like the apocalypse was there chasing after his tail, he kept thinking that this was wrong. This shouldn’t be happening to him. He had hooked up with girls and gotten laid at 13 by hookers that were paid for by his father, just to satisfy him, and show him that he could be a man too._

_A man… he didn’t even know what the definition of a man was anymore._

_Things had never been more messed up as the days that followed. Jason still couldn’t stop himself from sticking his eyes too long through the new gym’s doors, trying to catch a glimpse of something, just something. He thought back about what he had said to Dick, thought back to what his father had said to him about fag boys that didn’t deserve to be born and were curses to the lives of their parents, of this society, even though people like him were likely to be so._

_He came to practice after class with his head afloat, only to find his teammates bunched up in the middle of the court, laughing and wolf-whistling over something._

_“Yo Cap! Go take a look.”_

_Jason was honestly totally not in the mood for any shit show right now, but he was also too damn tired to deny or to deal with the whining and begging after the denial. So despite feeling like shit, he walked over to_ _the open space his team had made for him to fit in, and ducked his head in to realise all of this fuss was_ _from one video on the phone’s screen._

_“Hey hey, watch this.”_

_Silky black hair, shocking blue eyes, drop-dead gorgeous. It_ _was not_ _difficult for Jason to realise it was Dick in_ _the video they were all watching. He felt like something had been pulled out of his lungs_ _just watching the guy like this. Dick looked different, more... flashy and shiny with all the sparkling makeup around his cheeks, and the_ _bla_ _ck and blue gymastics_ _outfit. All the lights and cameras_ _were on him, not leaving behind a single second at all. He was in some kind of competition, in a_ _big stadium with hundreds of people sitting around. The video_ _didn’t show much of_ _the scenery of the game, it was mainly focusing on Dick and Dick alone. The guy got ready and bowed_ _to the judges, then he slowly walked to the edge of the mat._

_He started jumping and never stopped. Feet in the air and hands curled around his stomach, he stomped his soles down the mat once, twice, then head down and legs up, hair flying and sparkly sweats shining. He walked to the other corner, spun around to grin at the crowd, then planted his palms down, jumped and cartwheeled to the opposite side of the mat, took an extra spun in the air in the last move, then stomped his feet back down, hands up and smiled blissfully. He smiled all the way to the centre of the stage, facing right in front of the judges, body completely relaxed and moves soft like Eastern silk. His muscles showing in that tight tank top, waist looking unbelievable fit and small, delicate biceps and hands incredibly strong for such graceful features._

_Dick started bent forward, arms spread wide on two sides, legs parallel behind, then up they went, spreading impossibly wide until they formed a perfectly straight middle split in the air, his back slowly bent down and neck tilted up, mouth curled in a grin while sweat rolled down the corner of his lips. Jason’s heart stopped short for a second, drunk on that cocky attitude that was captured so perfectly on camera. Dick then rolled down his back and up on his tiptoes, walking back to the edge like a ballerina then bowed down, performance finished._

_Jason was aware of his teammates ogling and whistling, he just… couldn’t seem to find his mind to actually pay attention to it. His head was somewhere else, and he fully acknowledged the fact that he was completely, honestly amazed._

_These… things, it hurt to even just look at._

_“How can this dude do that? I mean, without ripping his dick apart.”_

_“I don’t know man. That is if he even has a dick.”_

_“In those tights? I doubt it.”_

_“I bet he feels better than a girl.”_

_His teammates howled and laughed, being mean and stupid, acting careless and cruel despite any real attention in their action. Jason had gotten used to it, had even mindlessly acted like them sometimes, because evil communications corrupt good manners._

_Jason was used to it, most of the team was used to it. Not Roy though, not him, and not when it came to Dick. Before anyone had realized, Roy had come out of nowhere, bashed into the middle of their circle, ripped the phone out of the guy’s hand with too much extra force and glared at them._

_In all the time Jason had been friends with him, he had never seen Roy looking this angry and intimidating before. His eyes dashed around, oozing fire like he wanted to burn all of them alive. His gaze stopped short on Jason, looking down from his nose even though they were pretty much at the same height, like he had expected more from him._

_Most of the team didn’t understand why, Jason didn’t understand why, too shocked by Roy’s viciousness all of the sudden. But then everything came together when he spotted Dick standing by the door, face emotionless and that dashing smile of his absent._

_Jason felt his stomach drop, like all of the sudden, there was nothing else around but Dick’s cold eyes on him. Richard Wayne had always been an image of sunlight and electric smiles, he drew people in, with that magnetic personality of his._

_None of that was showing for Jason now. Even when Jason had avoided him, had treated him coldly and had seen the guy as annoying, watching a forever smiling person put on such a blank face like this terrified him._

_Roy threw the phone at his chest, which Jason fumbled to catch in a distracted moment. He glared at the team again, and pointed an accusing finger out. “This better not happen again.”_

_Everybody who knew Roy, knew he wasn’t joking. They watched the redhead storm out of the gym and wrap his arm around Dick’s shoulder, clutching him tight like he was protecting him from them, and walked off without looking back._

_None of them had known Roy was close to Dick, they just knew it took almost 2 weeks for the guy to come back to practicing with them again. And Dick, Dick had never smiled at Jason again._

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Hey Jason! I need you fully on Earth please!” Tim shouted in front of his face, and Jason did his best to stay in his chair and not flatten his ass down on the floor just because he was dozing off in the memory.

“Yep, yep. I’m here.”

Tim still gave him the eye though, Jason swore to God that guy had about a dozen judgments of him right now. Whatever they were, Jason seriously begged that Tim wouldn’t start digging into it.

They were at Tim’s place, since they couldn’t freely trust anyone at school anymore (Tim said that, not him). Steph was on her way, the only reason why she was in this operation with them was because Jason couldn’t win over Tim’s “because she’s Dick’s friend and my girlfriend.”

Jason had figured for a nerd like Tim to get all the cool toys he showed off at school, his parents must be loaded. He hadn’t expected them to be _this_ loaded, though. His room was huge, bigger than Jason’s whole living room, messier no doubt, with lots of Macs and PCs. Tim was either a hacker, or a heavy gamer to own such an impressive setup.

“You know, you shouldn’t stare. I know it’s a lot more than average, but you’re the one who has a crush on someone who goes to school in a limo.”

Jason almost dropped the stress ball off the shelf that he hadn’t realized he had touched at first, and immediately put it back to where it was originally.

 “So, the mirror.”

Tim spun on his chair to look at him. Jason had seen one of these gamer chairs on the screen before, it looked bigger than he expected it to be.

“Yes, the mirror.” He bit on his lips, struggling a little bit to keep his eyes off the floor.

Jason could only nod. It wasn’t like he didn’t trust the kid, it was just a lot to process.

Tim pulled his lips together and clenched his fist, looking about two steps away from a swear word. He seemed a lot more sensitive when talking about this than Jason did, in the end, it was Tim that had found the double-sided mirror, and after all that Jason had been through, it was hard nowadays to surprise him with how sick this world could get through time.

Tim took a minute, breathed in then out like he was having trouble forming his words, his eyes looking at Jason like he had just seen Pennywise standing on his doorstep.

“Just spit it out, please.” Jason’s patience was running low. Not like there was a lot of it in the first place.

Tim managed, finally. “We have to tell no one about this.”

Jason laughed. “And how is that gonna help Dickie, exactly?”  

If Tim was serious about the mirror and spying shit that happened to Dick, then this wasn’t some game they could play off on their own. This wasn’t bullying, Jason could deal fine with bullying, adults never took a second glance at cases like that until their kids decided to slit their wrists open anyway. No, this was perverted, and perverts weren’t a playground for kids like him and Jason to practice detective shit.

 

 “No, let me explain, I don’t like this either, but please hear me out.” He stopped and waited, expecting Jason to jump right in but he didn’t. “Okay, we’re talking about multiple illegal activities here, okay? Invading personal space, spying without permission nor legal authority approval, containing pornographic material, and proceeding with inappropriate business activity in academic school ground? This is years of penal institution.”

“Then what are we waiting for? If this is enough to put someone in jail for good, then we have to tell the police!” Jason grunted. “Look, it’s not like I’m much of a believer in the system, but Dick’s a fucking Wayne, he’s practically royalty, half of Gotham would be jumpy if a rock was put in the wrong place and tripped him.”

“You don’t get it, Jason. That is exactly why we can’t let this out for anyone to know. If law enforcement gets involved, then the media would also get involved. The best they could do is to throw out an investigation, but what will happen during and after that?! People will start talking, the public will go nuts and Dick will take the full brunt of it.”

Jason went silent, mainly because he didn’t know how to reply to that.

“I don’t know.” He blurted out. “This is wrong. We can’t… we can’t just stand here, knowing this, and do nothing.”

Tim jumped out of his chair and grabbed his shoulders. Jason tried not to flinch when those spider limbs reached out for him, not when his head was low on functioning with the funky information it had taken so far.

“We will do something.” Tim spat the words out, so quickly like he was afraid Jason might miss his message, and repeated, “We will. I’m not saying we’re just gonna sit here and do nothing. We’re just not gonna do what you thought we should do right now.”

“Dick is being harassed, indirectly, Timothy. Do you know what you’re saying?”

“Yes, I do. And I also know that reputations are hard to build, but they’re even harder to keep.” Tim locked his eyes on his. Never once had Jason seen this kid this serious in his life. “My family may not be that deep in the high elite world like Dick’s is, but I still understand how it works.”

He took a step closer to grab on Jason’s collars. Jason didn’t know when Tim had grown the guts to be this bold, he also didn’t know when he himself had looked down to his legs instead of back at Tim’s eyes. Tim was forcing him to look at him now, which was quite some work because Jason was like 2 heads taller than him, but that fact didn’t stop him from trying.

“Whoever took Dick’s nude pics before, we don’t know what else they have in their pockets. It’s Dick’s personal life on the line, it’s his reputation on the line too. You like him, right?”

“Tim−” 

“Answer the damn question.”

Jason fidgeted with the edge of his jacket, chewing on the inside of his cheek while doing so, but he answered, anyway. “Yes, I…”

“Then do this for him.” Tim jumped right in. “We’re only protecting him. He has taken the blast hard enough the day the principal called him to the office.”

Jason still remembered that day, when Dick had looked more lifeless than a drowned corpse, burying himself into Roy’s massive full-body hug like he could hide away from the whole world inside his best friend’s arms like that. The walk away from school was basically the walk of shame, with Dick sheathing himself behind his father’s back, looking small and vulnerable in the center as the guards circled around.

Jason didn’t want him to look like that again, didn’t want him to lean on another’s shoulder again.

He sighed, already knowing this was a terrible idea.

“Alright, what do I need to do?”

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me at [here](https://moonfox281.tumblr.com/) and feel free to send prompt, idea or any personal opinion ;)


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